Thursday, November 13

Started out as an idea to create shirts for bookworms, The Dream
Shirt has finally marked its 2.5K likers after a year of operating online. With
more and more fangirls and fanboys finding out about the online shop, The Dream
Shirt is planning to have its relaunch come 2015, which includes creating a
line for locally published books, releasing more collections, and a
collaboration giveaway with Fandom Trinkets PH.

The Dream Shirt is an online shop that offers made-to-order shirts,
with prints that features quotes and designs based on different books. Each
design is printed on a cotton shirt in vinyl or via heat
transfer. As of today, most of their selections are based from Young Adult
novels like John Green’s ‘Looking for Alaska’ and ‘Fault in our Stars’. They
also print designs based on the popular dystopian novels such as the infamous
Hunger Games trilogy and Divergent. Although their current fan base is
consisted of young people and fanatics of YA masterpieces, The Dream Shirt is
planning to target a larger market, tapping in the bookworm crowd in general by
providing designs that are based on the classics, fiction novels, and the like.
The designs are slated to be released early next year, along with their
official relaunch.

Unlike most of its competitors, The Dream Shirt aims to stick to
creation of book-based shirts, and expand its designs by having its own artistic
team that will put their ideas into reality. They are also aiming to be more
present offline by participating in bazaars and other book related activity.
Their website is also in the works, aiming to provide a better experience for
their customers.

Thursday, July 24

The
Philippines’ most admired lifestyle mega brand Penshoppe continues to push the
envelope further as it embarks on online retail with the Philippines’ Online
Shopping Mall – Lazada.com.ph.

From
its cool and affordable items that appeal to the Asian fashion palate, to
top-billing international celebrity endorsers, Penshoppe has continuously wowed
and made waves in the Philippine fashion retail arena. Now, the brand is set on
conquering new and exciting territory – Online Retail; and in tandem with
Penshoppe on its journey is the Philippines' Online Shopping Mall – Lazada.

“Our
partnership with Lazada stems from the company-wide commitment to serve our
customers. While we continue to build and expand our brick-and-mortar stores
here and abroad, Lazada will help us reach out to more consumers so they can
enjoy the hassle-free Penshoppe shopping experience wherever and whenever they
want,” says Golden ABC President and CEO Bernie Liu.

Excitement
is really brewing in the air as Lazada Philippines’ Co-Founder and CEO Inanc
Balci welcomes the lifestyle megabrand into Lazada. “We are very thrilled and
happy to have Penshoppe with us and we both value the trust and confidence that
they have placed in each other and we take this very seriously,” mentions
Balci. “Lazada has expanded its categories from mobile and laptops to include
lifestyle in our fold and we are dedicatedly strengthening our lifestyle
categories, and working with the lifestyle megabrand such as Penshoppe is truly
motivating,” Balci adds.

Friday, June 27

Are you tired of buying clothes again and again
to get that new look? Well, now you don’t have to do that again because we provide
you here some of Maldita’s sophisticated itemsthat you can mix and match with
any of the available pieces on your closet! Here are they:

1. Maldita’s Lace Cut and Sew Blazer

Maybe you will think this blazer is just
another one same from the others but this is absolutely not. Maldita’s black
cut and sew blazer is made from the sophisticated combination of lace and
linen, ready to give you a distinct look. This combination is very rare yet
still matches with any kind of inner tops. It is best paired with another laced
short or skirt.

2. Maldita’s Tulip Skirt

Maldita’s tulip skirt has really got a very
unique design. It is a color beige high waisted skirt made from premium lace of
classy pattern. It has a triangular shape slit cut in front which makes it
extraordinary and enables you to move freely. This skirt can go with any color
and type of blouse. It can be paired with another lace, cotton, and chiffon
top. Maldita’s tulip skirt definitely gives you a very elegant look whenever
you wear it on any formal or informal event.

3. Maldita’s Crepe Sleeveless

If there’s any multifaceted blouse you can ever
have, it is undeniably Maldita’s crepe sleeveless. It is a very simple and
plain blouse that gives you an extravagant look! What make it different from any
other blouses are the unique metal tip collar and the triangle-shaped crop it
has on its back. Maldita’s crepe sleeveless can be worn with plain or printed
pants, shorts, and skirt of any color. Not just that! You can wear it with a
coat or a cardigan depending in your mood and you can wear it with or without
accessories but will still give you a high-class look. On different occasions
you will be attending, even if it’s an indoor or outdoor affair, this smart
pick will still surely fit.

So if you want a distinct outfit that can be
paired with any type of clothes and can go with any kind of events, grab these
three Maldita Must-Haves now for just reasonable prices.

Having a hard time thinking how to get to your
all time favorite store? You don’t have to worry about long travels to grab
that fashion-savvy pieces you dearly desire because Maldita is the one who will
come and reach you now!

Maldita, our best-loved brand known for its
contemporary designs and high quality apparels, is now accessible everywhere!
Currently, the brand has twenty nine available stores nationwide. There are
fourteen adorable retail stores in Metro Manila, eight in Luzon, five in
Visayas, and two in Mindanao. You can check out the specific mall location of
each boutique on the Store page of their official website.

Every Maldita shophas a simple and classy
concept that goes along with the vogue of their apparels. Each has spacious
place with a very light and sophisticated ambiance where you can take time
looking for your style. You can also easily see the brand’s newest collection
worn by mannequins on the facade of every store.

So what are you waiting for? Get up now and go
to the available stores near you!

This is the one of the very main reasons why
you should grab your Maldita pieces now. The brand offers really unique styles
that can never go away with the trend! These are fashion-savvy designs you can
wear anytime in any activities, indoor and even outdoor. The styles are well planned
by their in house professionals and carefully designed up to its smallest
detail. Fashion that reveals your beauty and shape to make you look extra fab.
The color picks the brand settles on are the ones that fit on any skin tone
color that’s why you don’t need to worry about picking shades that suit your
skin. The brand also offers variety of
designs fit for different types of personalities. Maldita optionally chooses to
sheer their styles away from fad. They create their own fashion every season to
make you look different from the rest.

Moreover, it’s not just the styles that make
Maldita worth grabbing for. Every smart picks from the brand is made from
authentic and high quality materials which make their products last long. The
materials used are carefully picked to match the style and give you a more
comfy feeling.

And the last reason why you should own Malditaapparels is that, they only release limited pieces to keep their standard of
being one of a kind! Don’t wait for the stocks to be cleared up! Visit the
Maldita stores near you and grab one now!

Seductively elegant was the new theme of
Maldita’s impressive ad campaign video.
The setting was an old lovely dilapidated building where the unit was
located. The scenes were first mysterious turned seductive when the character
was revealed. The story revolved around the sexy Nikki Gil exhibiting her
classy outfits on her way to her unit.

The video became more enticing when the hot
actress reached her room and turned up the volume of her stereo. She started
dancing and fitting herfashion-savvy Maldita pieces along with the alluring
music. The classy chic picks revealed her beauty and sexiness even more as the
stylish clothes slowly fitted and showed the curves of her body .

The campaign was created to attract and turn on
the audience in a sexy and elegant way which was proven on the video. See how
Maldita made Nikki Gil looked extra sizzling through watching the ad on the
brand’s official website.

Wednesday, February 26

When Berlin-based Internet incubator Rocket Internet
launched the online marketplace Lazada in five Southeast Asian countries in early 2012, it has
placed a big bet in the region.

Unlike other regions of the world, which have dominant
destination websites such as Amazon in the Western World, Alibaba's Tmall in
China, or Flipkart in India, Southeast Asia is a territory of niche players. It
also lags behind other regions in e-commerce maturity.

According to Maximilian Bittner, CEO of Lazada Group, “The
main opportunity that we took advantage of is two-fold: one is that people are
becoming more Internet savvy and the mobile phone penetration is also going up;
and second, Southeast Asian countries have strong developing economies.
Economic growth is not only in the capital cities but also across the whole
countries. What you have in these countries is a lot of offline retail presence
moving to second and third tier cities. We are also taking advantage of the
opportunity to bring these offerings to people who, for the first time, can
spend money and using disposable income."

Bittner added, “The vision is to build a general merchandize
destination website that shoppers would think of as a place to find good buys
from consumer electronics to fashion to home appliances to books to about
anything that they need. This was from same company that also built Zalando in
Europe, Linio in Central America, and Zalora in Asia-Pacific.”

Bittner explained, “The challenges are huge, but learnings
come everyday. We really tried to address the key challenges that exist on a
day to day basis, including challenges in logistics or being able to bring
packages to anyone across the country at an acceptable time, finding the right
mix of products in specific markets and being able to offer them at good
prices, and supporting third-party sellers using the platform.”

Early on, the company realized that to make it as the
dominant regional e-commerce player, it has to be very innovative and use its
strengths as well as opportunities in the market.

ONLINE SHOPPING

Bittner, said, “Each of the Lazada markets—Indonesia,
Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnamn, and the Philippines have stengths. Indonesia, for
instance, has the biggest population, with close to 300 million people.
Malaysia and Thailand are more developed from the GDP perspective and people
have more disposable income. Vietnam's GDP is catching up and has a
geographically dispersed population, which makes it a good market for online
retail. And the Philippines also has a big population—a steady market and increasingly
becoming investment friendly.

"Initially, we focused more on consumer electronics—mobile
phones, tablets, cameras. In the last six to 12 months, we started focusing on
lifestyle products from home appliances to fashion to sports. In the
Philippines, we are selling more small home appliances, in Thailand beauty
products rule, in Malaysia the electronics side is strong. Our product mix is
getting diverse," he said.

Oeie shared, "We not only use Facebook but social media
overall for engagement to attract new customers and retain customers. What we
did initially was start on the engagement side. We started communicating with
the customers and we started getting feedback—what we were doing good, what we
were doing better, what we did wrong and we adjust to that. Its a very cost
efficient way to get feedback. Its much easier to get people aboard.”

With a fan base of over six million people on the social
networking site, Oeie said Facebook has become its main customer acquisition
platform. Facebook works to Lazada's advantage because of its regional
presence. Currently, its advertising and customer engagement efforts have
yielded impressive results: 90 percent reach of the online population in
Philippines, 80 percent reach of online population in Indonesia, Malaysia, and
Thailand; and 60 times fan growth in one year to five million fans.

"This strategy has three big benefits for us: almost
everyone here is on Facebook, they are on Facebook most of the time and we can
target them and very customized personalized messages, which make it incredibly
efficient for marketing," added Oeie.

Another strategy, Oeie further explained, is the shifting
focus from the big cities to rural areas where consumers are looking for
products they wouldn't have access to in the neighborhoods.

Bittner believes “that while US and Europe and even second
tier of BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations were ahead of the
e-commerce development curve, the Southeast Asian market has a lot of potential
and room to grow. "he market is still very young and we are helping
pioneer that market. The population is very tech savvy, willing to try new
things. So we strive to provide them with tools they need to have a good online
shopping experience, gain their trust by providing safe payment methods, and
introduce mobile apps so they can have access on any device.”

Despite its success in the online space, Bittner said
building a physical store is not part of the plan. Lazada will remain a
pure-play e-commerce destination website. And this strategy has its advantages.
You have the ability to provide offer to anyone who comes to your website. Your
reach is much bigger. You can have unlimited shopping.”